Chris Beck, a member of IAM Architecture Workers United (AWU) and former employee at Bernheimer Architecture, has released his first book titled “The Labor of Architecture: Creativity, Design, and the Possibility of a New Class Consciousness.” The publication by Monthly Review Press examines how unionization efforts in architecture may reshape the profession and explores issues related to creativity, labor, and class within the field.
Beck played a significant role in organizing Bernheimer Architecture, which became the first private-sector architecture firm to unionize in over a century. Reflecting on this experience’s impact on his writing, Beck said, “A lot of it came out of the work with the IAM and organizing Bernheimer. Part of the book recounts that story—how we started organizing, what we achieved in our collective bargaining agreement—but it also asks a bigger question: What took so long for architecture to get here? We have unionized teachers, nurses, engineers—so why not architects?”
While working on his book, Beck also drew from his teaching experience at The New School’s Parsons School of Design. He studied philosophy, history, and economics there to connect architectural practice with broader social and labor movements.
“Architecture isn’t very good at thinking about labor and economics,” Beck stated. “Taking those classes gave me a better way to talk about the relationship between creativity, class, and inequality and how we can build a more conscious and collective future for designers and architects.”
In his book, Beck challenges common assumptions about architects’ social status. He notes that many architects are part of the working class rather than an elite group. “It’s not uncommon to graduate with a master’s degree and make $60,000 a year while working 50 or 60 hours a week,” he said. “There’s this idea of status and privilege that keeps people going—but that same mindset makes it harder to recognize that we’re workers too.”
Currently consulting with IAM Union organizers through AWU to expand unionization efforts nationwide, Beck underscores worker education as crucial for progress. “Worker education is really where I want to focus,” he said. “I had the privilege to study and write about this but most people don’t get that opportunity. We need more spaces for working people to step back, reflect, and connect what they do every day to the bigger picture.”
“The Labor of Architecture” is now available through Monthly Review Press as well as independent bookstores. Beck will discuss his book during an event at Red Emma’s Bookstore in Baltimore on November 6 alongside unionized artists from Maryland Institute College of Art.
